Koganei-shi

In the latest Population Census the population is about 126,000 (126,074 in 2020). Its trend is a consistent increase. From 111,825 in 2000, through 114,112 in 2005, 118,852 in 2010, 121,396 in 2015, and on to 126,074 in 2020, it rose by more than fourteen thousand over twenty years.

Looking inside, the figure of a residential area along the Chuo Line appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 14.8% in 2000 to 20.3% in 2020, but among many regional cities that approach four in ten, it stays at about two in ten and keeps a large youthfulness. The household-with-children share is 17.6% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in 2024 and six in 2025 — small in number but remaining. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 1.01 in fiscal 2023, a level exceeding one that covers all of expenditure with its own tax revenue. The figure of a town that planted cherries on the bank of the aqueduct, increasing its population consistently while keeping a large youthfulness, shows in the numbers. Why this town keeps increasing and holds its youthfulness does not come into view without going back over the cherries planted on the bank of the aqueduct, and the history of a station born for the cherry-viewing visitors.

This town’s skeleton is set by the cherries planted on the bank of the aqueduct, by the cherry-viewing bustle those cherries bore, and by the railway station born of that bustle. The opening layer is the cherries. In the mid-Edo era, on the bank of the aqueduct flowing through this town, mountain cherries carried from a distant famous place for cherries were planted along six kilometers of both banks. Under the shogunate’s instruction, a magistrate is said to have planted many mountain cherries gathered from distant famous mountains; this row of cherries in time grew splendidly and became the foremost cherry-viewing spot near Edo. Woodblock-print artists took up these cherries as a subject many times, and their name was widely known.

These cherries drew in people and the railway. To admire the cherries, many cherry-viewing visitors came to this land from various places, and the town bustled as a place of recreation. With the Meiji era, a temporary boarding place set up for those cherry-viewing visitors is said to have later become this town’s railway station. The row of cherries, in the Taisho era, together with the distant famous place that was its parent, was designated a National Scenic Site. The course of becoming a city too mirrors this town. This land became a city in the 1950s, and ever since, as a residential area along the Chuo Line running across the Musashino plateau, it has increased its population. The cherries on the bank of the aqueduct, the foremost cherry-viewing spot near Edo, the cherry-viewers’ station, and the residential area of the Chuo Line — this town’s form stands upon the history of the cherries on the bank, which the aqueduct flowing across the Musashino plateau has held.

What characterizes Koganei-shi is that, while bearing the history of cherries on the bank of the aqueduct, it has increased its population consistently and keeps a large youthfulness. From 111,825 in 2000 to 126,074 in 2020, more than fourteen thousand were gained over twenty years. While many regional cities reduce their population, behind this town keeping on increasing there can be read its location near the center of the Musashino plateau, easy to commute to the city center from by the Chuo Line, drawing in households raising children and young single people as a residential area. That the share aged 65 and over is 20.3% in 2020, staying at about two in ten and keeping a large youthfulness, is also its expression.

On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in 2024 and six in 2025 — small in number but remaining. A Fiscal Capacity Index of 1.01 is a level exceeding one that covers all of expenditure with its own tax revenue. It mirrors the way the income of the many households living along the Chuo Line supports the tax source at a level exceeding one. The population rises consistently, the aging is about two in ten, and the fiscal stamina exceeds one. These numbers can be read as the present cross-section of a single chain — cherries called in cherry-viewers, the cherry-viewers a station, and the station a residential area.

Koganei, as a town opening near the center of the Musashino plateau, holds several functions of its own. One is its history of planting, in the mid-Edo era, mountain cherries of a distant famous place on the bank of the aqueduct and becoming the foremost cherry-viewing spot near Edo, keeping that row of cherries as a National Scenic Site. Another is its character of a temporary boarding place for cherry-viewing visitors becoming a railway station and turning into a residential area along the Chuo Line running across the Musashino plateau. The landform near the center of the Musashino plateau raised the aqueduct, the cherries on its bank, and the residential area of the Chuo Line on this land.

Koganei is a town where a land that planted cherries on the bank of the aqueduct became a residential area of the Chuo Line. From the cherries on the bank of the aqueduct, to the foremost cherry-viewing spot near Edo, the cherry-viewers’ station, and the residential area of the Chuo Line — the geography of “opening near the center of the Musashino plateau” called in the aqueduct, called in the cherries on the bank, and called in the residential area of the Chuo Line. Come spring, the cherries still line the bank of the aqueduct. Beside that row of cherries, which the people of Edo came by boat and on foot to admire, the trains of the Chuo Line now run through. A famous cherry-viewing spot and a commuting route overlap upon a single bank.